With Revenge of the Sith out on DVD, I have been a very happy Star Wars geek the last week or so. Here’s a roundup of Episode III-related reviews I’ve written over at theLogBook:
Back in the summer I also did a week-long viewing of all six movies in numerical order, using my old VHS copies of the original trilogy. I wrote down some notes that at one point I was going to put up on the forums, but I figure this is as good a place as any.
My sense is that if I try to view the whole thing as one six-part story of Anakin’s rise, fall, and redemption, it doesn’t quite work for me. If I look at it as a two-part generational story that focuses first on Obi-Wan and Anakin and then on Luke, Han and Leia, I think it actually works rather well. For the most part, the prequels lend interesting subtext to existing reactions and interactions that didn’t really stand out before.
- Rewatching Phantom Menace, I can see why Lucas went the route he did with kid Anakin. The contrast between the Jedi’s detachment from society and Shmi’s love for her son helps set up almost all of the mistakes the Jedi make with Anakin. And the three things that lead to Anakin’s downfall – confidence in his own ability, desire to help/save other people, and fear of losing loved ones – are all established.
- None of that makes the podrace or Padme’s “No I’m the Queen!” scene any more fun to watch. And the Trade Federation voices are painful to hear.
- The DVD cut of Attack of the Clones has Anakin’s breakdown after killing the Tuskens go on a little bit longer, so that after he sits down at the end, he expresses remorse and Padme comforts him. I think that’s a helpful revision. I have to think that Lucas is at least suggesting that the Tuskens are not quite human, so it’s not such a big deal that Anakin killed a bunch of ’em. But I’m not sure how well that works.
- I think most of Star Wars is actually improved by the backstory. Owen knowing about protocol droids makes sense, but the different coverings and 3PO’s memory of his first job explain why he doesn’t immediately recognize him. When Obi-Wan says “Hello, there” to Artoo, it’s easy to read recognition into that if you want to. And R2 being so hell-bent on finding Obi-Wan makes sense now that we know that he’s one of the few who know what’s really going on. Any inconsistencies in what Ben says can be chalked up to him lying to protect Luke.
- The one thing that doesn’t work so well is the Ben-Vader duel. Part of that is just from Lucas wanting a two-handed, broadsword approach in the original films, and a more acrobatic martial arts style in the prequels. But if this were really still Anakin and Obi-Wan’s story, I’d want to see a lot more emotional intensity, and maybe this would be more of a climactic moment instead of the transition to the third act. I just don’t feel like this is a rematch between the two guys that fought on Mustafar. That may actually do a lot to reveal how Vader has changed over the 20 years, with a lot of his emotion dying out. But it’s still kinda jarring. (Some folks at theLogBook have disagreed with me since I first wrote this, arguing that the sense of detachment actually works to show how much Ben has convinced himself that the guy in the suit is “more machine now than man.” So I’m trying to get over my objection here.)
- R2 and Yoda bickering in Empire is also more fun to watch now.
- Chewie interacting with the Jedi kinda helps explain why he’s got so much faith in Luke’s rescue plan in Return of the Jedi. (It might also explain why he was receptive to Ben in Star Wars.) I wonder if Luke mentioned who he’d been training with. I also wonder how Luke got so much stronger with the Force without more training. Maybe Yoda taught him all the skills, and Luke was able to improve just through practice.
- The prequels do a really nice job at setting up the Emperor. Actually seeing how he seduced Anakin, and then seeing the parallels and divergences in his efforts to get Luke to turn, makes those scenes work a lot better than I remember them working before. It does kinda make me wonder where he disappeared to in 4 and 5 – another strike against viewing the movies as one six-parter.
- I do like the symmetry in Anakin’s life. He goes to the dark side in large part to save his wife, he turns back to save his son. I also like the way he uses Luke’s fear of losing his friends and his sister in Jedi – it’s almost like he’s thinking, “This is what got me to turn, it ought to work on my son.” And it almost does.
- The ground battle in Jedi still kinda falls flat. I guess subsequent generations of clones and conscripts weren’t quite as well trained.